Areas of Specialization

Education

Academic Positions

Department of History, Ohio State University, 1971-1989Department of Religious Studies, College of William and Mary, 1989-Visiting Professor at California State University, Northridge; University of California, Los Angeles; University of Pittsburgh; Brown University; Wolfson College, Oxford University

Courses Taught

Introduction to the History of Jewish Thought (211), The Holocaust (309), Judaism in America (326), Sexuality Women, and Family in Judaism (327), Midrash: Jewish Interpretation of Scripture (328), Introduction to Religion (201)

Research

Professor Raphael writes about Jews and Judaism in the United States, including philanthropy, culture, politics, and especially religion. His most recent book, The Synagogue in America – A Short History (New York University Press, 2011), is the first of his many scholarly books to have no footnotes. Although it has a full discussion of the archival sources as well as books upon which he drew, it is written for undergraduate students and intelligent laypeople who have an interest in American religion. The latter has been his field of interest ever since he began doctoral studies, and it represents the culmination of many years of research in synagogue archives and attendance at worship services at more than 100 synagogues in every region of the country.